I set off today planning a more casual sort of run to end a week that has seen me feeling pretty tired and droopy. I ended up doing better than expected.
The weather was nice–16C and sunny, but with enough canopy that I was still in the shade for much of the run. Humidity was high, so I did sweat more than I’d have preferred, but it, uh, clears the pores or something.
Fridays are usually the busiest in terms of other people being out and aboot, I assume because more people take Friday off to get a coveted three-day weekend. Today the number of people was even higher than that would account for–then I remembered that today is the first statutory holiday for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (spoiler: this is definitely not one of those “feel good” official holidays). Lots of people were wearing orange t-shirts–and so was I1 In my case, it was a coincidence, since my usual running shirt is orange.
Most people were pretty good, but a few fell into that “OMG a jogger, what do I do? WHAT DO I DO?!” category. We all got through unscathed.
At one point after exiting the Cottonwood Trail, I just stayed on the left side of the trail, there were so many packing it. Kind of weird, though the sunny conditions at this late time of the month probably brought out even more.
My left hip signalled a bit of displeasure partway through, but was not too bad. I felt a bit creaky, but turned in a good pace despite that. Run smarter, not harder, or something. It also helped that I encountered no park workers, vehicles, construction or other detours/obstacles, just lots and lots of people. Dodging a guy is one thing, dodging a giant mowing machine of death is another.
Here’s a photo from atop the dam shortly before I started the run.
Stats:
Run 721 Average pace: 5:53/km Location: Burnaby Lake (CW) Start: 10:38 a.m. Distance: 10.06 km Time: 59:10 Weather: Sunny Temp: 16ºC Humidity: 76% Wind: light BPM: 152 Weight: 157.0 Total distance to date: 5307 km Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation) Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (415 km)
